CARBONDALE, Ill. – The University of Evansville swimming and diving team continued its strong weekend at the A3 Performance Invitational in Carbondale, Illinois on Friday, as the Purple Aces broke four school records and won three individual events.
Senior Maya Cunningham (Yakima, Wash./Eisenhower) broke her own school record in the women’s 400-Yard IM twice, while junior Iryna Tsesiul (Minsk, Belarus) broke the women’s 100 Back record for the second time in as many days. On the men’s side, sophomore Daniel Santos Lopez (Madrid, Spain) lowered his own record in the 100-Yard Butterfly. UE also earned individual victories from junior diver Madison Rollett (Evansville, Ind./Reitz), junior breaststroker Alon Baer (Gesher HaZiv, Israel), and senior freestyler Sonsoles Aguayo (Jerez, Spain).
“We are swimming with a lot of confidence right now, and it is fun to watch!” said UE head swimming & diving coach Stuart Wilson. “Congratulations to Alon, Sonsoles and Madison for their event victories!
“One more day tomorrow…let’s finish strong!”
The day began with a bang, as Cunningham lowered her own school record in the women’s 400-Yard IM by over a second with a time of 4:25.55 to post the fastest time in the preliminary round by nearly two seconds. In all, Evansville posted the fastest preliminary round time in six of the 10 individual events, and all 24 individuals who were entered into the preliminary round events qualified for the Friday night finals. UE also placed second in both the men’s and women’s 800-Yard Freestyle Relay to cap the morning session.
In the afternoon, Rollett continued her strong fall season by winning the women’s three-meter competition with a personal-best score of 248.50. Freshman Levi McKinney (Boonville, Ind./Boonville) followed up a victory in the three-meter competition yesterday with a third-place finish in the one-meter event on the men’s side.
In Friday night’s finals, Evansville continued its strong weekend showing in the relays, placing second in both the men’s and women’s 200 Medley Relay, as both squads missed school-record marks by less than two seconds each.
Cunningham then began UE’s individual success by lowering her 400 IM record to 4:25.09 to finish second overall. Three events later, Santos Lopez broke his own school record in the 100 Fly by posting a time of 48.00 to place second in the event. Aguayo and fellow senior Sarah Jahns (Lilburn, Ga./Parkview) then followed by going one-two in a hotly-contested women’s 200-Yard Freestyle race in which 0.14 seconds separated first from third place.
Baer would remain undefeated in the breaststroke events about 15 minutes later, as he won a UE-dominated race in a time of 55.08. UE put five men into the 100 Breaststroke ‘A Final,’ with sophomore Benjamin Hasanovic (Innsbruck, Austria) finishing third (55.99), sophomore Carlos Souto (A Coruna, Spain) placing fourth (56.03), senior Max Dehen (Ramsey, Minn./Anoka) finishing sixth (57.09), and freshman Daniil Goncharuk (Kyiv, Ukraine) placing eighth (57.28). Hasanovic (55.91 in the prelims) and Goncharuk (56.55 in the prelims) also broke into UE’s career top 10 fastest swimmers in the event, placing third and eighth respectively.
Tsesiul then capped a strong night for UE by lowering her own school record in the 100 Back with a time of 55.05 to finish second overall.
In addition to the records and the individual victories, Evansville also saw sophomores Sveva Brugnoli (Rome, Italy) and Mari Müller (Zurich, Switzerland) move up UE’s fastest swimmer charts. Brugnoli became the third-fastest UE female in the 100-Yard Butterfly, posting a time of 56.19 in the prelims on her way to a third-place finish overall. Müller moved up to fifth-fastest all-time at UE in the women’s 100 Breaststroke, posting a time of 1:04.82 in the final to place fifth overall.
The A3 Performance Invitational will wrap up on Saturday, with preliminary rounds swims in the 100 Free, 200 Back, 200 Breast, 200 Fly, and 1,650 Freestyle starting at 10 a.m. Saturday’s finals will begin at 4 p.m., and will include competitors from 100 Free, 200 Back, 200 Breast, and 200 Fly, and include the meet-ending competition in the 400-Yard Freestyle Relay. Fans can follow the action on the Meet Mobile App.
